Recognizing What is Not Working

How can you change if you don’t recognize what isn’t working? This not working might be actions, words, or thought patterns. We see the destination we crave but are stumped how to get there. No matter where we turn, the destination seems far away.

I grow increasingly more disturbed by the violence in the world. So focused on what we as individuals want, we lose sight of what the community desperately needs. That need? To care for the most fragile among us. This compassion is for more than the most obvious — each of us is fragile in ways we do not comprehend.

How can the world change unless we as individuals change? That change happens when we look through the illusions and truly see our self while admitting our imperfections — the ways we hurt others, and, how in hurting others, we harm our self. This paradigm shift takes courage and fortitude. 

Maybe this journey to recognition of our imperfections is about caring less about the actions of others and about focusing more on our self — how we respond and react to the world. I recognize that while this concept is nothing new, our ability to consistently live this way is difficult. When we focus on our self, we answer the call — we return to our true self by becoming the light that shining through the pandemic guiding us to a new way of being. 

I, like others, have a lot of hurt and anguish that simmers in the chasm that divides. I agonize over the question: “How can I communicate with someone when we speak two very different languages?” We may both speak English but our words are based upon different value system. I would like to believe that more often than not, mine is the language of compassion.

To create an equitable world, we must bridge individual and collective chasms by identifying our fears. When fear is a nameless, faceless companion, we get stuck in our differences and illusions. We believe in the possibility of change without understanding of what stops transformation. Unless we understand even a part of what is stopping us, we lack the power to confront what simmers in the chasm. With understanding we gain the courage to build the bridge across it.

The knowledge that invites us into an understanding in not one of tacit agreement. It is the understanding that breeds a recognition of why we do what we do; why others do what they do. In this realization are the seeds of our change. When we nurture them, we take that step-by-step journey of transformation. 

For me, the answer to what is not working is not found out there. It is found within. For, it is in the core of our being that we have the strength, the courage, the fortitude, to peel back the layers of hurt and finally own who we are. This powers the way we respond to the world. No longer do we focus on the behavior of another. We focus on how the behavior impacts us and how we will respond with compassion. 

Wishing you the strength, the courage, the grace, to recognize what is not working and make the change. 

 Vanessa F. Hurst, ms, is an Intuitive, Coach, Catalyst, who uses mindfulness practices and intuition tools to create strategies for personal and relationship transformation. She is a professional speaker & author who weaves inner wisdom into all she touches. Her books are available @ www.wildefyrpress.com. Contact Vanessa  (vanessa@intentandaction.com) for life coaching, intuitive consultations, keynotes, and programs.

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